Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish football manager who is currently the manager of Liverpool F.C. He left Swansea City to sign a three-year deal with the club on 31 May 2012, following the departure of Kenny Dalglish on 16 May. Liverpool career After the departure of Dalglish, Liverpool's owners the Fenway Sports Group moved to identify a number of potential candidates for the manager's role. They approached Brendan Rodgers on 18 May, however he initially rejected their advances, being unprepared to enter into competition with numerous other individuals. Over the next two weeks, FSG were purported to have reduced their shortlist to Wigan Athletic's Roberto Martinez and Rodgers, who they had not given up hope of persuading to hold talks with them. The club made it clear to Rodgers that he was their first-choice target and this encouraged him to engage in talks. Reports emerged of an agreement being close to completion between FSG and Rodgers late on 28 May and by 30 May, it was confirmed that Rodgers had agreed a three-year contract to move to Merseyside. Swansea were compensated a fee in the region of £7,000,000 by Liverpool. Liverpool officially unveiled Rodgers as manager on 1 June 2012. Of his appointment, Rodgers said "I am very proud and feel very blessed to be appointed today. It's obviously a club with an incredible tradition and history and I'm very, very proud and honoured to be appointed manager." He also outlined his vision to help the club work towards claiming a first League title in over two decades, stating: "We might not be ready for the title now but the process begins today." Rodgers took Liverpool on a tour of North America before making his competitive managerial debut for the Reds on 2 August 2012. This came away to Belarussian side FC Gomel in the Europa League third qualifying round, and he guided his side to a 1-0 win thanks to a long-range Stewart Downing strike. The return leg marked Rodgers' Anfield debut, and his Liverpool team produced an electric display as they dispatched Gomel 3-0. Fabio Borini- who had been Rodgers' first buy as Liverpool manager- hit his first Liverpool goal in this game. Rodgers went on to make two further signings- his former Swansea midfield lynchpin Joe Allen on 10 August, and Moroccan winger Oussama Assaidi on 17 August before taking charge of his first Premier League game with Liverpool on 18 August. The match was away to West Brom, and unfortunately for Rodgers, he witnessed his team suffer a 3-0 defeat. Defender Daniel Agger was sent off in the match, and West Brom were awarded two penalties, of which they converted one. Rodgers called all three decisions 'harsh' and defended the performance of his team, but acknowledged his task to restore Liverpool to the elite of English football would be a difficult one. After four more Premier League games without a victory- the first time Liverpool had failed to register a win in their first five League games since the 1911-12 season, Rodgers made a complaint to Mike Dean- head of the League's referees regarding what he felt was a string of poor officiating decisions that were costing his team points September 2012 however, Rodgers achieved his first League win as Liverpool manager with a 5-2 victory away at Norwich City. He then guided the Reds to their first home League win of the season- a 1-0 victory over Rodgers' former club Reading on 20 October 2012. On 31 October 2012, Rodgers led Liverpool against his former club Swansea for the first time, but was on the losing side as Swansea claimed a 3-1 win in the League Cup. On 9 December 2012, Rodgers won back-to-back Premier League games for the first time as Liverpool boss, with a 3-2 victory at West Ham following a 1-0 win against Southampton the week before. This win also brought Liverpool up to 10th in the Premier League table- the first time in the season Liverpool had found themselves in the top half. On 30 December 2012, Rodgers was forced to miss Liverpool's game away to QPR due to illness. His assistant Colin Pascoe deputised on the sidelines in the 3-0 win. 27 January 2013 brought arguably Rodgers' lowest point as Liverpool manager to date, as Liverpool crashed out of the FA Cup thanks to a shock 3-2 loss to League One side Oldham. Liverpool then bowed out of the Europa League on 21 February 2013 on away goals after drawing 3-3 on aggregate against Zenit St. Petersburg in the first knockout round. Following Liverpool's exits from the cup competitions, the team's Premier League form improved markedly, especially aided by the successful January signings Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho. Liverpool claimed 36 points from the last 19 games of the season and recorded some impressive victories, most notably the 6-0 away win over Newcastle on 27 April 2013. Brendan Rodgers' first season in charge finished with Liverpool taking seventh place in the League. Perhaps most pleasing was the way in which Liverpool's goalscoring problems that had haunted them during the preceding seasons had seemingly been solved, as Liverpool registered 71 League goals- the fourth highest in the League. He was also able to help improve players who had failed to impress in recent seasons- notably Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Pepe Reina, who rediscovered his old form towards the end of the campaign. Despite this, Liverpool's poor performances in the cups and modest League position came under scrutiny by fans, meaning Rodgers still had some way to go to convince a section of the fanbase that he was indeed the right man for the job. Rodgers' season was marked by a number of bold decisions. He handed debuts to seven of the club's academy players and placed a large amount of responsibility on youngsters Raheem Sterling, Andre Wisdom and Suso in the early part of the season. There were a number of occasions when Rodgers made tactical substitutions in the first half if he felt his team were struggling, however these changes were often successful. He also broke up the central defensive partnership of Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger after seeing his team- and particularly Skrtel- be bullied too easily by strong centre forwards. He reintroduced the retiring Jamie Carragher as Agger's partner after the FA Cup tie with Oldham and kept Skrtel on the sidelines until the end of the season. In the summer transfer window leading up to the 2013-14 season, in an effort to avoid the mistakes of the previous summer in which Rodgers let striker Andy Carroll leave without bringing in a replacement, Rodgers moved quickly to secure four new players- forwards Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto, experienced defender Kolo Toure- viewed as a replacement for Carragher, and goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. Mignolet's acquisition ultimately led to the controversial decision to loan out popular stalwart Pepe Reina to Napoli. Rodgers was keen to recruit a 'marquee' signing in the shape of a high-profile 'number 10' player to help the club's charge on the Champions League qualification places, however big-money moves for Shakhtar Donetsk's Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Atletico Madrid's Diego Costa failed to materialise. His biggest signing of the window came on deadline day in the shape of centre back Mamadou Sakho, while Rodgers also added left back Aly Cissokho, forward Victor Moses on loan and young defender Tiago Ilori. Arguably Rodgers biggest challenge of the window however was attempting to keep hold of star player Luis Suarez. Suarez had publically stated his desire to leave the club on several occasions over the summer with Arsenal making a concerted effort to land the player. Rodgers stood firm on the matter however- even punishing Suarez by consigning him to solitary training for a period- and Suarez remained a Liverpool player, however question marks have been raised over the impact the saga has had on the pair's relationship. Liverpool's 2013-14 pre season was encouraging as Liverpool won all bar one of their fixtures. The club carried this form into the new season as they took an early lead at the top of the Premier League table, having won all three of their opening matches- all by a score of 1-0, with Daniel Sturridge netting all three goals. The signings of Mignolet and Toure were quickly lauded by the Kop as Rodgers enjoyed a start to the season that was in stark contrast to the difficulties of his debut season. In recognition for this, Rodgers and Sturridge were awarded the Premier League Manager and Player of the Month awards respectively for August 2013. Rodgers oversaw his Liverpool side complete the first half of the season in fifth place, six points behind leaders Arsenal. In many ways, he had seen his team exceed expectations with the Reds being spoken about not only as top 4 contenders, but also title challengers. His team continued to struggle against the supposed 'top teams,' with three of Liverpool's five losses in the first 19 games coming against Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea. He did however see his team record an impressive 5-0 away win over Tottenham Hotspur. The season to date had marked a shift in style for Rodgers, as he adopted a more flexible, pragmatic approach rather than rigidly sticking to his possession-based philosophy. He also switched formation to an unorthodox 3-5-2 for an extended period of time to make best use of his available players. He was however criticised for a lack of an impact from his summer signings. Only Sakho and Mignolet had fully established themselves in the team, with Aspas, Alberto, Moses, Cissokho and Ilori failing to make an impression. He was able to take some solace in seeing Suarez perform a U-turn from the summer's events and sign a new long-term contract. In the League Cup, Rodgers saw his Liverpool side make a meal of defeating League One side Notts County at home in the second round- requiring extra time to prevail 4-2- before being knocked out away to Manchester United in the third round on 25 September 2013. Coaching Style Rodgers is an advocate of the possession-based football associated with Barcelona and the Spanish national team. He is keen for his team to be comprised of fast, technically-gifted footballers, even through to the defence. His system places great tactical demands on his players, and it took some time for his Liverpool side to adapt to his style of play. Although the football his Liverpool side play is very aesthetically-pleasing and has often resulted in emphatic victories, there is a concern from some that Rodgers' side lacks height and a physical presence that has seen them too easily repelled by teams playing a more aggressive, defensively-resolute style of football. Honours Individual *Premier League Manager of the Month: 1 (August 2013) Stats See also *Brendan Rodgers/Transfers External links *Brendan Rodger's managerial stats at Soccerbase. Rodgers